Microcode configurable frequency clock

ABSTRACT

A microcode configurable frequency clock that may be used to control the speed of high speed comparison in an operational optical transceiver. The frequency clock includes a memory and a logic circuit. The memory receives microcode generated data relating to the desired speed of comparison. The logic circuit is configured to receive an input clock signal and to produce an output clock signal by frequency dividing the input signal based on the microcode generated data. The output clock is used to control the speed of comparison in the optical transceiver.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/623,257, filed Oct. 29, 2004, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. The Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to programmable frequencyclocks. More specifically, the present invention relates to programmablefrequency clocks in optical transceivers that control the speed of highspeed comparison in the optical transceiver.

2. The Relevant Technology

Computing and networking technology have transformed our world. As theamount of information communicated over networks has increased, highspeed transmission has become ever more critical. Many high speed datatransmission networks rely on optical transceivers and similar devicesfor facilitating transmission and reception of digital data embodied inthe form of optical signals over optical fibers. Optical networks arethus found in a wide variety of high speed applications ranging from asmodest as a small Local Area Network (LAN) to as grandiose as thebackbone of the Internet.

The operation of an optical transceiver is susceptible to its operatingenvironment and to other operational parameters. Changes in operationalparameters such as temperature or laser bias current can have an effecton the output performance of the optical transceiver. To help monitorany operational parameter changes, the optical transceiver may include acomparator circuit.

A comparator circuit is used to make comparisons between actualoperational parameter values and desired operational parameter values.For example, a comparator may take a measured operational temperaturevalue and compare that with a desired operational temperature value. Theresult of the comparison may then be reported to other circuitry in theoptical transceiver. If the comparison is outside of an acceptablerange, then the optical transceiver may take appropriate action. Thus itcan be seen that the speed of the comparator circuit is very important.The faster the comparator can produce a comparison result, the fasterthe optical transmission device can make any needed adjustments.

In many cases, the speed of the comparator circuit is driven by thespeed of the clock signal that controls the rate at which signalsrepresenting the desired operational parameter values are received bythe actual analog comparators within the high speed comparator circuit.These signals are usually digital and must be converted to analog by aDigital to Analog Converter (hereinafter also referred to as “DAC”)contained within the comparator circuit. However, the DAC can onlyefficiently operate at certain clock speeds. This is due to physicallimitations in the silicon that the DAC has been implemented in. If theclock speed is too fast, the desired operational parameter values mayarrive at the input to the DAC before the DAC is ready, causingpotentially inaccurate comparisons. On the other hand, if the clockspeed is too slow, time is wasted as the comparison process is slowerthan necessary.

One solution to this problem is to measure the actual silicon speed ofeach DAC and determine the clock speed accordingly. This is timeconsuming and problematic if multiple DACs are from different siliconwafers. Another approach is to find a range of speeds that the differentDACs can efficiently operate at and set the clock speed accordingly. Forexample, if the DACs can efficiently operate at a clock cycle periodranging from 93 nanoseconds (ns) to 370 ns, then the clock period wouldneed to be approximately 400 ns to ensure each DAC can efficientlyoperate at the clock speed under the worst case scenario. Accordingly,the clock period could be set at 400 ns even if the actual DAC is ableto efficiently operate at clock periods as short as 93 ns. Again,valuable time is wasted as the clock speed is not as fast as it couldbe.

Therefore, what would be advantageous is for a mechanism that allows formore optimal high speed comparisons regardless of the particular siliconinstantiation of the DAC.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The forgoing problems with the prior state of the art are overcome bythe principles of the present invention, which relate to a microcodeconfigurable frequency clock that is used to control the speed of highspeed comparison in an operational optical transceiver. The frequencyclock includes a memory and a logic circuit. The memory receivesmicrocode generated data relating to a desired clock speed. The logiccircuit is configured to receive an input clock signal and to produce anoutput clock signal by frequency dividing the input signal based on themicrocode generated data. The output clock is used to control the speedof comparison in the optical transceiver.

Accordingly, the principles of the present invention have manyadvantages over the prior art. For example, the present invention iscapable of maintaining high speed comparisons regardless of thevariations in silicon speed of different digital-to-analog converters(DACs). Use of microcode to drive the programmable frequency clockallows for the selection of the optimum clock speed without having toknow any actual DAC silicon speeds values. It is possible for thepresent invention to produce as many different clock speeds as required.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description that follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by the practice of the invention. Thefeatures and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained bymeans of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out inthe appended claims. These and other features of the present inventionwill become more fully apparent from the following description andappended claims, or may be learned by the practice of the invention asset forth hereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To further clarify the above and other advantages and features of thepresent invention, a more particular description of the invention willbe rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof which areillustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that thesedrawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and aretherefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention willbe described and explained with additional specificity and detailthrough the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an example of an optical transceiverthat may implement features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an example of the control module ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a programmablefrequency clock in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The principles of the present invention relate to a microcodeconfigurable frequency clock that may be used to control the speed ofhigh speed comparison in an operational optical transceiver. Themicrocode configurable frequency clock includes a memory and a logiccircuit. The memory receives microcode generated data relating to thedesired speed of comparison. The logic circuit is configured to receivean input clock signal and to produce an output clock signal by frequencydividing the input signal based on the microcode generated data. Theoutput clock is used to control the speed of comparison in the opticaltransceiver. An example operational optical transceiver environment willfirst be described. Then, the operation in accordance with the inventionwill be described with respect to the operational environment.

FIG. 1 illustrates an optical transceiver 100 in which the principles ofthe present invention may be employed. While the optical transceiver 100will be described in some detail, the optical transceiver 100 isdescribed by way of illustration only, and not by way of restricting thescope of the invention. The principles of the present invention aresuitable for 1 G, 2 G, 4 G, 8 G, 10 G and higher bandwidth fiber opticlinks. Furthermore, the principles of the present invention may beimplemented in optical (e.g., laser) transmitter/receivers of any formfactor such as XFP, SFP and SFF, without restriction. Having said this,the principles of the present invention are not limited to an opticaltransceiver environment at all.

The optical transceiver 100 receives an optical signal from fiber 110Ausing receiver 101. The receiver 101 acts as an opto-electric transducerby transforming the optical signal into an electrical signal. Thereceiver 101 provides the resulting electrical signal to apost-amplifier 102. The post-amplifier 102 amplifies the signal andprovides the amplified signal to an external host 111 as represented byarrow 102A. The external host 111 may be any computing system capable ofcommunicating with the optical transceiver 100. The external host 111may contain a host memory 112 that may be a volatile or non-volatilememory source. In one embodiment, the optical transceiver 100 may be aprinted circuit board or other components/chips within the host 111,although this is not required.

The optical transceiver 100 may also receive electrical signals from thehost 111 for transmission onto the fiber 110B. Specifically, the laserdriver 103 receives the electrical signal as represented by the arrow103A, and drives the transmitter 104 (e.g., a laser or Light EmittingDiode (LED)) with signals that cause the transmitter 104 to emit ontothe fiber 110B optical signals representative of the information in theelectrical signal provided by the host 111. Accordingly, the transmitter104 serves as an electro-optic transducer.

The behavior of the receiver 101, the post-amplifier 102, the laserdriver 103, and the transmitter 104 may vary dynamically due to a numberof factors. For example, temperature changes, power fluctuations, andfeedback conditions may each affect the performance of these components.Accordingly, the optical transceiver 100 includes a control module 105,which may evaluate temperature and voltage conditions and otheroperational circumstances, and receive information from thepost-amplifier 102 (as represented by arrow 105A) and from the laserdriver 103 (as represented by arrow 105B). This allows the controlmodule 105 to optimize the dynamically varying performance, andadditionally detect when there is a loss of signal.

Specifically, the control module 105 may counteract these changes byadjusting settings on the post-amplifier 102 and/or the laser driver 103as also represented by the arrows 105A and 105B. These settingsadjustments are quite intermittent since they are only made whentemperature or voltage or other low frequency changes so warrant.Receive power is an example of such a low frequency change.

The control module 105 may have access to a persistent memory 106, whichin one embodiment, is an Electrically Erasable and Programmable ReadOnly Memory (EEPROM). The persistent memory 106 and the control module105 may be packaged together in the same package or in differentpackages without restriction. Persistent memory 106 may also be anyother non-volatile memory source.

The control module 105 includes both an analog portion 108 and a digitalportion 109. Together, they allow the control module to implement logicdigitally, while still largely interfacing with the rest of the opticaltransceiver 100 using analog signals. FIG. 2 schematically illustratesan example 200 of the control module 105 in further detail. The controlmodule 200 includes an analog portion 200A that represents an example ofthe analog portion 108 of FIG. 1, and a digital portion 200B thatrepresents an example of the digital portion 109 of FIG. 1.

For example, the analog portion 200A may contain digital to analogconverters, analog to digital converters, high speed comparators (e.g.,for event detection), voltage based reset generators, voltageregulators, voltage references, clock generator, and other analogcomponents. For example, the analog portion 200A includes sensors 211A,211B, 211C amongst potentially others as represented by the horizontalellipses 211D. Each of these sensors may be responsible for measuringoperational parameters that may be measured from the control module 200such as, for example, supply voltage and transceiver temperature. Thecontrol module may also receive external analog or digital signals fromother components within the optical transceiver that indicate othermeasured parameters such as, for example, laser bias current, transmitpower, receive power, laser wavelength, laser temperature, and ThermoElectric Cooler (TEC) current. Two external lines 212A and 212B areillustrated for receiving such external analog signals although theremay be many of such lines.

The internal sensors may generate analog signals that represent themeasured values. In addition, the externally provided signals may alsobe analog signals. In this case, the analog signals are converted todigital signals so as to be available to the digital portion 200B of thecontrol module 200 for further processing. Of course, each analogparameter value may have its own Analog to Digital Converter (ADC).However, to preserve chip space, each signal may be periodically sampledin a round robin fashion using a single ADC such as the illustrated ADC214. In this case, each analog value may be provided to a multiplexer213, which selects in a round robin fashion, one of the analog signalsat a time for sampling by the ADC 214. Alternatively, multiplexer 213may be programmed to allow any order of analog signals to be sampled byADC 214.

As previously mentioned, the analog portion 200A of the control module200 may also include other analog components 215 such as, for example,digital to analog converters, other analog to digital converters, highspeed comparators (e.g., for event detection), voltage based resetgenerators, voltage regulators, voltage references, clock generator, andother analog components.

The digital portion 200B of the control module 200 may include a timermodule 202 that provides various timing signals used by the digitalportion 200B. Such timing signals may include, for example, programmableprocessor clock signals. The timer module 202 may also act as a watchdogtimer.

Two general-purpose processors 203A and 203B are also included. Theprocessors recognize instructions that follow a particular instructionset, and may perform normal general-purpose operation such as shifting,branching, adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, Booleanoperations, comparison operations, and the like. In one embodiment, thegeneral-purpose processors 203A and 203B are each a 16-bit processor andmay be identically structured. The precise structure of the instructionset is not important to the principles of the present invention as theinstruction set may be optimized around a particular hardwareenvironment, and as the precise hardware environment is not important tothe principles of the present invention.

A host communications interface 204 is used to communicate with the host111, possibly implemented using a two-wire interface such as I²C shownin FIG. 1 as the serial data (SDA) and serial clock (SCL) lines on theoptical transceiver 100. Other host communication interfaces may also beimplemented as well. Data may be provided from the control module 105 tothe host 111 using this host communications interface to allow fordigital diagnostics and readings of temperature levels,transmit/receiver power levels, and the like. The external deviceinterface 205 is used to communicate with, for example, other moduleswithin the optical transceiver 100 such as, for example, thepost-amplifier 102, the laser driver 103, or the persistent memory 106.

The internal controller system memory 206 (not to be confused with theexternal persistent memory 106) may be Random Access Memory (RAM) ornon-volatile memory. The memory controller 207 shares access to thecontroller system memory 206 amongst each of the processors 203A and203B and with the host communication interface 204 and the externaldevice interface 205. In one embodiment, the host communicationinterface 204 includes a serial interface controller 201A, and theexternal device interface 205 includes a serial interface controller201B. The two serial interface controllers 201A and 201B may communicateusing a two-wire interface such as I²C or another interface so long asthe interface is recognized by both communicating modules. One serialinterface controller (e.g., serial interface controller 201B) is amaster component, while the other serial interface controller (e.g.,serial interface controller 201A) is a slave component.

An input/output multiplexer 208 multiplexes the various input/outputpins of the control module 200 to the various components within thecontrol module 200. This enables different components to dynamicallyassign pins in accordance with the then-existing operationalcircumstances of the control module 200. Accordingly, there may be moreinput/output nodes within the control module 200 than there are pinsavailable on the control module 200, thereby reducing the footprint ofthe control module 200.

A microcode configurable frequency clock 209 is used to control theclock speed in the optical transceiver high speed comparator. As will bedescribed in further detail below with respect to FIG. 3, the microcodeconfigurable frequency clock 209 may change in operational frequencydepending on data within a memory location. The data may be generated byexecuting microcode that causes the processors 203 to populate thememory location. Accordingly, the frequency of the clock 209 may bevaried as appropriate. More regarding this microcode configurablefrequency clock 209 will be described further below.

Register sets 210 contain a number of individual registers. Theseregisters may be used by the processors 203 to write microcode generateddata that controls high speed comparison in optical transceiver 100. Forexample, the registers could contain ideal transceiver 100 operationalparameter values for comparison with actual operational parameters.Alternatively, the registers may hold data selecting operationalparameters for comparison.

Having described a specific environment with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2,it will be understood that this specific environment is only one ofcountless architectures in which the principles of the present inventionmay be employed. As previously stated, the principles of the presentinvention are not intended to be limited to any particular environment.

As mentioned previously, transceiver 100 may contain high speedcomparators, which would correspond to other analog components 215.These high speed comparators are used to compare actual operationalparameters such as temperature or voltage with a desired operationalparameter value. Microcode configurable frequency clock 209 provides theclock signal that controls the speed of the high speed comparators.Programmable frequency clock 209 allows for more optimal high speedcomparison regardless of Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) silicon speedby using microcode to adjust the speed as appropriate for the individualcircumstances associated with the particular silicon instantiation ofthe DACs. FIG. 3 illustrates an example 300 of the microcodeconfigurable frequency clock 209 in further detail. Microcodeconfigurable frequency clock 300 receives a CLOCK_IN signal at a givenfrequency and outputs a CLOCK_OUT signal at different frequency that isdetermined by microcode.

Microcode configurable frequency clock 300 contains a memory 301. In thedescription and in the claims, memory 301 is defined as any memorydevice. Suitable memory devices may include, for example, a register, aflip-flop, RAM, non-volatile memory, or any other memory device. Memory301 receives microcode-generated data from processors 203. Themicrocode-generated data (hereinafter referred to as “control data”)controls the speed of comparison in the high speed comparators byappropriately setting and/or varying the speed of the CLOCK_OUT signal.The control data may be selected by a user based on the determined speedof the DACs.

For example, suppose the clock period of the output clock signal was 100ns. However, if it was determined that the DAC silicon could only handleclock periods of 200 ns or greater, a user would indicate this to theprocessors 203. The processors 203 would then cause the inputrepresenting 200 ns to be used as the control data for controlling themicrocode configurable frequency clock 300 to output a 200 ns CLOCK_OUTsignal. Alternatively, the processors may automate the determination ofan appropriate clock speed by varying the clock speed, providing knownselection and comparison values into the register sets 210 and thenevaluating the comparison results to determine what clock speeds resultin successful comparison. The fastest of these clock speeds (withpotentially some margin for error being factored in) may then beselected as the clock speed that is most suitable for this instantiationof the comparator.

Microcode configurable frequency clock 300 also contains a logic circuit302. The logic circuit 302 is defined in the description and the claimsas any circuit, analog or digital, that receives a clock input signal,executes frequency processing on that signal such as, but not limitedto, division or multiplication, and outputs a clock output signal thatis different from the clock input signal. This may include a simplecounter circuit. The frequency division or multiplication that logiccircuit 302 performs on the clock input signal is determined by thecontrol data from memory 301. As mentioned above, the CLOCK_OUT signalthen controls the speed of comparison in a high speed comparator.

Referring to FIG. 3, an example embodiment of microcode configurablefrequency clock 300 will be described in further detail. It should benoted that this embodiment illustrates only one of many possibleembodiments of logic circuit 302 and memory 301. One of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate the numerous logic circuits and memories thatmay be implemented in accordance with embodiments of the presentinvention. In the example embodiment, suppose the microcode configurablefrequency clock 300 receives a 40 MHz CLOCK._IN signal. This correspondsto a clock period of 25 ns. Memory 301 in this example is a four bitregister, although this is not required. If it were desirable to set theCLOCK_OUT clock period to 100 ns to thereby slow the clock speed, thenmemory 301 may receive microcode generated control data in the form of abinary [0100] from processors 203.

Logic circuit 302 may comprise in this example, an edge detector 303, anincrementor 304, a register 305, a matching circuit 306, a reset 307,and a transition clock circuit 308. Edge detector 303 receives the 40MHz CLOCK_IN signal. During each clock cycle of 25 ns, edge detector 303detects the clock edge of the pulse signal. This causes a logic high tobe sent to incrementor 304 each time an edge is detected. Thus, eachtime an edge is detected, the incrementor 304 increments the value inregister 305.

Register 305 may be a four bit register that is initially set at binary[0000]. The register 305 provides its value to the matching circuit 306.Matching circuit 306 compares the values in memory 301 and register 305.If the values are the same, then the matching circuit 306 may output alogical high signal, and otherwise outputs a logical low signal. Thismatching circuit 306 may be any matching circuit currently known in theart capable of matching different digital signals. At the firstdetection of an edge, the value in register 305 is incremented to abinary ]0001]. This value is sent to matching circuit 306 where it iscompared with the binary [0100] from memory 301. Since there is nomatch, a logic low signal is sent to reset circuit 307 and transitionclock circuit 308. The transition clock circuit 308 only transitions theCLOCK_OUT signal when it receives a logical high signal from thematching circuit 306. Accordingly, the CLOCK_OUT signal does nottransition at this stage. Furthermore, the reset circuit 307 only resetsthe value in register 305 to a binary [0000] if the reset circuit 307receives a logical high signal from the matching circuit 306.Accordingly, the register value in register 305 remains unchanged at thebinary [0001].

In the second and third edge transitions, in clock signal CLOCK_IN,incrementor 304 writes a binary [0010] and a binary ]0011] respectivelyto register 305. These are each sent to matching circuit 306 forcomparison with the [0100] from memory 301. Again, as there is no match,a logic low is sent to the input of transition clock 308. Accordingly,the CLOCK_OUT signal stays the same.

At the fourth edge transition in clock signal CLOCK_IN, the register isincremented to a binary [0100]. This value is sent to matching circuit306. This time, however, the matching circuit 306 matches this valuewith the [0100] from memory 301. Since there is a match now, thematching circuit 306 outputs a logical high to transition clock circuit308. This causes transition clock 308 to transition the CLOCK_OUT signaleither from a high to a low, or from a low to a high as appropriate.

The logic high signal from matching circuit 306 also causes resetcircuit 307 to reset register 304 to a binary [0000]. In this way, theprocess just described may start over again on the next clock cycle.Thus, in this case, the control data of a binary [0100] causes theCLOCK_OUT signal to transition at one fourth of the frequency of theCLOCK_IN signal.

In some embodiments, microcode configurable frequency clock 300 may beconfigured to independently control the speed of both the high and lowpulse widths of the output clock signal. This enables the varying of thelengths of the high and low pulse widths should this be desirable. Forexample, in some implementations of the present invention, the highpulse width may be used to reset the DACs during operation. The speedthat the DAC silicon can handle would be used to determine the length ofthe high pulse. There may also be reasons for varying the length of thelow pulse.

In this case, memory 301 may receive from the processors microcode thatdetermines the length of the high pulse width and the low pulse width.Memory 301 may be an eight bit register that stores four bits of controldata defining the length of the high pulse width and four bits ofcontrol data defining the length of the low pulse width. The four bitsof control data for either the high or the low pulse may define widthlengths between 100 ns and 1600 ns. Logic circuit 302 may be configuredto output a clock out signal that has a high pulse width and a low pulsewidth determined by the memory 301. Logic circuit 302 may be any logiccircuit known to one skilled in the art capable of receiving a clock insignal, reading the microcode from memory 301, and producing a clock outsignal with a high pulse width and a low pulse width the desired length.

For example, it may be desirable to have a high pulse width of 500 nsand a low pulse width of 100 ns in one implementation. Later, it may bedesirable to have a high pulse width of 100 ns and a low pulse width of500 ns in another implementation. Changing the microcode written tomemory 301 allows for the change in the lengths of the pulse widths.

Accordingly, the principles of the present invention provide for amicrocode configurable frequency clock. For example, the presentinvention is capable of maintaining high speed comparisons regardless ofthe variations in silicon speed of the different DACs. Use of microcodeto initiate the microcode configurable frequency clock allows for theselection of the optimum clock speed without having to know any actualDAC silicon speeds values. It is possible for the present invention toproduce as many different clock speeds as required. Accordingly, theprinciples of the present invention represent a significant advancementin the art of high speed comparators.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or essential characteristics. The describedembodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrativeand not restrictive. The scope of the invention is, therefore, indicatedby the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

1. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator comprising: a memory configured to receive microcode generated data that controls a speed of comparison for the comparator; and a logic circuit that is configured to receive an input clock signal, frequency process the input clock signal as directed by the microcode generated data to generate an output clock signal, wherein the output clock signal controls the speed of comparison for the comparator.
 2. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the memory is one of a register, a flip-flop, Random Access Memory (RAM), or a non-volatile memory.
 3. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the memory receives the microcode generated data from a microprocessor.
 4. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the logic circuit is a counter.
 5. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the logic circuit includes a matching circuit.
 6. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the logic circuit includes an edge detector.
 7. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the logic circuit includes a transition clock circuit.
 8. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the logic circuit includes an incrementor.
 9. A microcode configurable frequency clock for controlling a comparator in accordance with claim 1, wherein the microcode configurable frequency clock is implemented in an optical transceiver.
 10. A method for a microcode configurable frequency clock to control a comparator comprising: an act of a memory receiving microcode generated data that controls a speed of comparison for the comparator; an act of a logic circuit receiving an input clock signal; and an act of the logic circuit frequency processing the input clock signal as directed by the microcode generated data to generate an output clock signal, wherein the output clock signal controls the speed of comparison for the comparator.
 11. A method in accordance with claim 10, wherein the memory is one of a register, a flip-flop, Random Access Memory (RAM), or a non-volatile memory.
 12. A method in accordance with claim 10, wherein the memory receives the microcode generated data from a microprocessor.
 13. A method in accordance with claim 10, wherein the microcode configurable frequency clock is implemented in an optical transceiver.
 14. A method for a microcode configurable frequency clock to control a comparator comprising: an act of a memory receiving microcode generated data; an act of a logic circuit receiving an input clock signal comprising a high pulse and a low pulse; an act of the logic circuit frequency processing the input clock high pulse as directed the microcode generated data to generate a high pulse of an output clock signal; an act of the logic circuit frequency processing the input clock low pulse as directed by the microcode generated data to generate a low pulse of an output clock signal; and an act of the high pulse and the low pulse of the output clock signal controlling the speed of comparison for the comparator.
 15. A method in accordance claim 14, wherein the speed of the high pulse is greater than the speed of the low pulse.
 16. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the speed of the low pulse is greater than the speed of the high pulse.
 17. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the memory is one of a register, a flip-flop, Random Access Memory (RAM), or a non-volatile memory.
 18. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the memory receives the microcode generated data from a microprocessor.
 19. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the logic circuit is a counter.
 20. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the microcode configurable frequency clock is implemented in an optical transceiver. 